A body has been found in the hunt for a British man who went missing on a hiking holiday on the Greek island of Crete.

Arthur Jones – described as a veteran Bear Grylls-style adventurer – had not been seen since 19 June, two days after he arrived for a solo walking holiday. Jones, 73, vanished after sending his family a postcard saying he was setting off on his walking trip.

His son and other relatives flew to Crete after he failed to return and found his hiking equipment still in his room in the city of Chania. A major air and land search was launched by the Greek army, and British police officers travelled to help after Jones did not board his plane home on 24 June. Official searches focused on the area between his hotel and a nearby war cemetery where he signed the visitors' book.

North Wales police confirmed that a body had been found and said the family had been informed.

Jones, a father of four and grandfather from Denbigh, north Wales, had been walking as a hobby for 30-40 years and had trained army cadets in mountaineering and hill-climbing.

North Wales Police missing person coordinator Mark Owen said: "Following contact with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office the body of a man has been recovered by Greek authorities from a rural location in the Chania area of northern Crete."